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| Junior Great Books Curriculum, The (JGBC). A literature-based program of interpretive reading, writing, and discussion which partially replaces or supplements conventional instruction in literature and comprehension and also provides benefits in critical thinking. |
Audience Approved by PEP for students in grade 3. Materials are available for grades 2-6. Related materials are available for grades K-1 and 7-12.
Description The Junior Great Books Curriculum (JGBC) is intended for use in up to five class periods of instruction per week for 12 or 24 weeks. The JGBC involves students in intensive collaborative guided practice in interpreting outstanding stories drawn from many cultures. It provides teachers with a method of identifying interpretive issues and formulating interpretive questions, stories suitable for intensive interpretation, and support materials to foster active reading, exchange of ideas, and rigorous individual thinking. For each story they read, students discuss and write about interpretive issues through a sequence of activities. In most activities, students form divergent interpretations, back up their interpretations with evidence from the text, and comment on each others' interpretations.
The Junior Great Books Curriculum promotes students' "ability to reason, solve problems, apply knowledge, and write and communicate effectively" (National Goal for Education 3).
Evidence of Effectiveness Students in the JGBC support their interpretations of stories with evidence from the text more frequently than students not in the JGBC, both during oral discussion and in written answers. Students in the JGBC also score at a significantly higher percentile rank on the reading vocabulary subtest of standardized reading achievement tests than students not in the JGBC.
Requirements The Great Books Foundation provides a two-day (ten-hour) required Basic Leader Training Course and optional one- or two-day Curriculum Training Course. For each semester there is a student anthology of twelve selections, student activity pages, and a Teacher's Edition of annotated student text and instructions for conducting activities. Weekly release time is recommended for teachers to prepare units together.
Costs One-time start-up costs per class are tuition for the Basic Leader Training Course at $78 per teacher and Teacher's Edition at $19.95 per semester. A Curriculum Training Course and on-site consultation are free for schools or districts using the JGBC with a large number of students. Student books, $9.95 each per semester, are softbound and recommended for use as consumables. Student activity books, $4.95 each per semester, are consumables, and may be duplicated.
Services In addition to training and materials, awareness presentations and follow-up consultations are available. Services are discounted for large adoptions.
Developmental Funding: Great Books Foundation.
PEP No. 93-1 (2/10/93)
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[Keyboarding, Reading, and Spelling (KRS)]